Bombay Break

A break in updates, owing to a short trip to Mumbai, ostensibly, to attend a training program.
Managed to go through the 2-day training program all wide-awake and fairly attentive. What after watching the Brazil - Argentina match well past the half-time, a three-hour sleep followed by a drive to Mumbai.

The drive was of course the elixir. A visual feast of the feathery monsoon clouds hanging low - on what were brown, parched hills a few weeks ago - now cushioned by lush green vegetation from the magical touch of rain. Glistening silvery ribbons of gushing waterfalls, which appear out of nowhere during these times. Driving from a drizzle into a sudden cloudburst, the smoky-grey whiteness - almost solid, the din of a thousand water drops hammering on the roof and bonnet, the wipers working away in a frenzy, the fuzzy amber of the vehicle ahead, crawling with it’s distress-lamps flashing. The life-bestowing magic of monsoon - promises of plenty for the farmers and misery to the homeless on the streets of our ragged, rotting metros.

i no longer feel comfortable in our great metropolitan sprawls. They trigger in me a sense of decay and despair - tremendous individual and collective toil - all just to keep things from falling farther apart. In the process, the rich bloating richer and the poor, even more miserable. A few remarkable sacrificial efforts to make headlines and provide intellectual fodder, tidbits for the champagne party.

Met friends over lunch on Saturday in Bandra. A warm, sticky, drizzling Saturday afternoon, women - garishly made-up and beyond their prime - smoking “hookahs” pre-lunch, all in all, and extremely forgettable experience.

In the evening, travelled in the cool rain, through the foggy ghats to Pune. And slept for a good 11 hours.

A dig brings up some old dirt - Die, for you are uncovered